In a recent piece titled "Climate Change and Globalization," Charles Kenny argues that globalization can help reduce the negative effects of climate change and even help reduce CO2 emissions. The essay was one of twelve in the Cato series Defending Globalization: Society and Culture. Although we agree with the call for liberalized global trade, we disagree with many of the essay's recommendations regarding climate policy and multilateral agreements. First, let's recognize some common ground. We greatly respect Dr. Kenny and value the open exchange of ideas. One of the authors of this blog post (Alex) read Kenny's book The Plague Cycle and thought it was masterful. We also agree that free trade means: higher incomes, easier adaptation to a changing climate, and reduced costs of CO2- mitigating technologies (through the removal of tariffs that inflate the cost). All of these changes lessen the negative impacts of climate change.
Authors
- Published in
- United States of America
